Laughing- Tim Gander, 2001

23 March 2006

On April 7th 2001 I was on shift for the News of the World to cover a march by supporters of the BNP in the morning and, to make the day quite bizarre, a march in memory of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor in the afternoon.

After lunch, though, the Damilola Taylor march kicked off with singing and chanting by the women and men of Peckham who wanted to keep his case in the headlines.

I had a few nice shots on route, but it wasn’t until the march converged on the square in front of Peckham Library, where Damilola was last caught alive on CCTV, that I got this shot of the women laughing at something one of the organisers said when they addressed the crowd at the end.

Although this image was never published, I’ve always liked its energy. It sums up the feeling of the day when the marchers seemed to want to celebrate Damilola’s life rather than be angry about his death.

Tim Gander has been a professional photographer since 1988, where he started working as a freelance for the Bath Chronicle. From there he went to Sheffield to take the NCE in photojournalism and then straight into a staff position at The News, Portsmouth. Having left The News eight years ago, Tim has gone on to freelance for The Mail on Sunday, The News of the World and Press Association and has been published in all the national newspapers. He now lives in Frome, Somerset, offering editorial, commercial and PR photography to a range of clients.

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